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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Reuven_M" data-source="post: 3496630" data-attributes="member: 74779">There is an interesting idea here in how birders will treat species that are truly impossible to identify in the field. I don't know of any cases like this off the top of my head (Swinhoe's and Pin-tailed Snipe off the breeding grounds come close?, and juvenile Plegadis ibis in North America are maybe not reliably distinguished. I think some recent tubenose splits could fall into this category)But there are serious proposals to split Painted Bunting, which may be totally indistinguishable except by breeding range or genetics.I think there is a real possibility, if these kinds of splits become more common, of birders moving away from listing species and instead focusing more on distinct field-identifiable populations, which could include some distinctive subspecies (e.g. Palm Warblers)</blockquote>